Order processing method and device, and goods volume estimation method and device

ABSTRACT

An order processing method and device, a server, and a storage medium, includes determining an actual volume of at least one item associated with an order, wherein the actual volume of each item is determined on the basis of a historical maximum storage quantity of a given item in a goods location and the volume of the goods location, or on the basis of a storage quantity of a given item in a transfer box and the volume of the transfer box. On the basis of the actual volume of the at least one item associated with the order, determining a total volume of the at least one item associated with the order; and on the basis of the total volume of the at least one item associated with the order and the volume of the transfer box, allocating transfer boxes for the order.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO THE RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the national stage entry of to InternationalApplication No. PCT/CN2019/091876, filed on Jun. 19, 2019, designatingthe United States, and claiming priority to Chinese patent applicationNo. 201810706714.2, filed with Chinese Patent Office on Jul. 2, 2018,and Chinese patent application No. 201811141989.2, filed with ChinesePatent Office on Sep. 28, 2018, which are incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to the technical field of logistics andwarehousing, for example, to an order processing method and device, aserver and a storage medium, and to a goods volume estimation method anddevice, a computer device and a storage medium.

BACKGROUND

A sorting system based on mobile robot, in which shelves are transportedby mobile robots, changes a traditional “person-to-goods” sorting modeinto a “goods-to-person” mode, to effectively improve operationefficiency, reduce labor costs, and increase production capacity. As itbreaks the traditional goods sorting mode, the operation efficiency iseffectively improved. However, with the improvement of transportefficiency of the robot, many innovations have been made to the robotsorting system to meet the needs of various industries, and theefficiency of manual sorting from a sorting station to an allocatingwall directly influences the sorting efficiency of the entire work.

On the one hand, a turnover box is a carrier of goods movement in asorting process, and its moving speed and filling degree determine thesorting efficiency. After goods are sorted manually at a workstation,the goods are put into the turnover box. On the one hand, if much emptyspace is left in the turnover box, it is a waste of space, transporttimes of the turnover box is also increased, and thus the sortingefficiency is reduced. On the other hand, if the turnover box cannotcontain the items, splitting of the items in the turnover box isrequired, thereby increasing manual operations.

To solve the above problems, a direct measurement method is currentlyused to obtain the volume of the goods, and a turnover box is allocatedto an order according to the volume of the turnover box and the volumeof the goods. This method reduces, to some extent, the number of timesof manually splitting for turnover boxes or the probability that aturnover box is not full. However, the above problems still exist due tothe irregularity or casing manner of items. Therefore, it is verynecessary to provide a new method for allocating a turnover box to anorder.

On the other hand, in the “goods-to-person” robot system in thewarehouse and logistics industry, a combination of “Warehouse ManagementSystem (WMS) and robots” is adopted, where robots are dispatched totransport appropriate shelves for sorting, stacking, stocktaking andother warehousing operations. The “goods-to-person” robot system relieson big data and intelligent algorithms to achieve intelligentwarehousing. Goods volume information is a type of important basicinformation in the big data of warehousing, and relatively accurategoods volume information is required in location recommendation of astacking process and in the box shape recommendation in packing.

At present, methods for collecting goods volume information mainlyinclude offer by upstream suppliers or goods owners, manual measurementby persons, and measurement by equipment. The aforementioned variouscollecting methods have disadvantages respectively as follows: in thefirst method, when an upstream supplier or goods owner offers goodsvolume information, complete goods volume information may be notprovided or the provided goods volume information is inaccurate; in thesecond method, when the goods volume is measured manually, the manualworkload in a warehouse may be increased, especially for warehouseswhere new items are frequently put in storage, manual measurement takesa long time and occurs at a high frequency, which takes a lot ofmanpower; and in the third method, when a goods volume is measured byequipment, the cost of measurement is relatively high, and it also needsto add a process of measuring the goods volume as compared with directoffer of the goods volume from upstream.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present application provide an order processingmethod and device, a server and a storage medium, by means of which aturnover box is reasonably allocated to an order, thereby reducingtransfer times of the turnover box and manual order splittingoperations, thus improving the sorting efficiency.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides anorder processing method, the method including: determining an actualvolume of at least one type of items associated with an order, where anactual volume of at least one type of items is determined based on ahistorical maximum storage quantity of the items in a location and thevolume of accommodation in the location, or determined based on astorage quantity of the items in a turnover box and the volume of theturnover box; determining a total volume of at least one type of itemsassociated with the order according to the actual volume of at least onetype of items associated with the order; and allocating a turnover boxis allocated to the order according to the total volume of at least onetype of items associated with the order and the volume of the turnoverbox.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application furtherprovides an order processing device, the device comprising: an actualvolume determination module configured to determine an actual volume ofat least one type of items associated with an order, wherein the actualvolume of each type of items is determined based on a historical maximumstorage quantity of the items in a location and the volume ofaccommodation in the location, or determined based on a storage quantityof the items in a turnover box and the volume of the turnover box; atotal volume determination module configured to determine a total volumeof at least one type of items associated with the order according to theactual volume of at least one type of items associated with the order;and an allocation module configured to allocate a turnover box to theorder according to the total volume of at least one type of itemsassociated with the order and the volume of the turnover box.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application furtherprovides a server, the server including: one or more processors; and astorage device configured to store one or more programs, where the oneor more programs, when executed by the one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to implement the aforementioned order processingmethod.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention furtherprovides a storage medium storing a computer program that, when executedby a processor, executes the aforementioned order processing method.

According to the order processing method and device, the server and thestorage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application,an actual volume of items is provided based on a historical maximumstorage quantity of the goods in a location and the volume ofaccommodation in the location, or determined based on a storage quantityof the items in a turnover box and the volume of the turnover box; atotal volume is obtained by combining the actual volumes of itemsassociated with an order; a turnover box is reasonably allocated to theorder according to the total volume and the volume of the turnover box,thereby avoiding the phenomenon that a turnover box is not full or itemsexceed a turnover box due to goods volume inaccuracy, and reducingtransfer times of the turnover box and manual order splittingoperations, thus improving the sorting efficiency.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application furtherprovides a goods volume estimation method, the method including: whendetecting that a new stacking operation of a current SKU items iscompleted, searching for a location set involved in the new stackingoperation; for each location in the location set, determining a currentupper limit of unit volume of the current SKU items in the locationaccording to a location volume of accommodation in the location and astorage quantity of the current SKU items in the location; and updatinga historical volume of the current SKU items according to thecorresponding current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKUitems on each location.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application furtherprovides a device for calculating goods volume, the device including: astacking location search module configured to, when detecting that a newstacking operation of a current SKU items is completed, search for alocation set involved in the new stacking operation; a current volumeupper limit determination module configured to, for each location in thelocation set, determine a current upper limit of unit volume of thecurrent SKU items in the location according to a location volume ofaccommodation in the location and a storage quantity of the current SKUitems in the location; and a volume update module configured to update ahistorical volume of the current SKU items according to thecorresponding current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKUitems on each location.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application furtherprovides a computer device, the computer device including: one or moreprocessors; a storage device configured to store one or more programs,where the one or more programs, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to implement theaforementioned goods volume estimation method.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application furtherprovides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer programthat, when executed by a processor, implements the method for estimatinggoods volume as described above.

Embodiments of the present application provide a method and device forestimating goods volume, a computer device and a storage medium. Themethod includes: when detecting that a new stacking operation of an itemhaving the current SKU is completed, searching for a stacking locationset involved in the new stacking operation for each stacking location inthe stacking location set, determining a corresponding current upperlimit of unit volume of the items having the current SKU on the stackinglocation according to a location volume of the stacking location and astorage quantity of the items having the current SKU in the stackinglocation; and updating a historical volume of the items having thecurrent SKU according to the corresponding current upper limit of unitvolume of the items having the current SKU on each stacking location.The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application notonly can achieve the maintenance of a relatively accurate volume foreach SKU item in the warehouse; compared with an actually measuredvolume, the volume calculated in this solution of the embodiment canbetter reflect the space occupied by the items, and this can also reduceequipment costs and labor costs.

Described above in the application is only a summary of the technicalsolutions of the present application. To understand the technical meansof the present application more clearly so as to be carry them out inaccordance with the content of the specification, and to make the aboveand other objectives, features and advantages of the present applicationmore apparent and easily understood, specific implementations of thepresent application are exemplified below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

By reading the detailed description of the non-restrictive embodimentswith reference to the following drawings, other features, objectives andadvantages of the present application will become more apparent.

FIG. 1 is a system structure diagram of a goods sorting systemapplicable to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an order processing method provided inEmbodiment 1 of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an order processing method provided inEmbodiment II of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an order processing method provided inEmbodiment III of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a structural block diagram of an order processing deviceprovided in Embodiment IV of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a server provided inEmbodiment V of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a clapboard shelf providedin an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow diagram of a goods volume estimation methodprovided in Embodiment VII of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow diagram of a goods volume estimation methodprovided in Embodiment VIII of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for goods volumeestimation provided in Embodiment IX of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a server provided inEmbodiment X of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring to a system structure diagram of a goods sorting system shownin FIG. 1, the goods sorting system 100 includes self-driving robots 10,a control system 20, a shelf zone 30, and a sorting station 40. Theshelf zone 30 is provided with a plurality of shelves 31, and variousgoods are placed on the shelves 31. For example, like shelves withvarious goods placed thereon as seen in a supermarket, a plurality ofshelves 31 are arranged in array.

The control system 20 communicates with the self-driving robot 10wirelessly, and a working person uses an operation console 60 to operatethe control system 20. The self-driving robot 10 performs goodstransport tasks under the control of the control system 20. For example,the self-driving robot 10 can travel along an empty space (a part of apassageway of the self-driving robot 10) in the shelf array, move to thefoot of a target shelf 31, lift the target shelf 31 by using a liftingmechanism, and carry it to an assigned sorting station 40. In anexample, the self-driving robot 10 has a lifting mechanism and anautonomous navigation function. The self-driving robot 10 can travel tothe foot of the target shelf 31 and use the lifting mechanism to liftthe entire shelf 31 so that the shelf 31 can be moved up and down withthe lifting mechanism having a lifting function. In an example, theself-driving robot 10 can travel forward according to two-dimensionalcode information captured by a camera, and can travel to the foot of theshelf 31 instructed by the control system 20 according to a pathdetermined by the control system 20. The self-driving robot 10transports the target shelf 31 to the sorting station 40, and a sortingperson 41 or a sorting robot sorts goods from the shelf 31 at thesorting station 40 and puts the goods into a turnover box 50 to wait forpacking.

The control system 20 is a software system running on a server andhaving data storage and information processing capabilities, and can beconnected to the robot, a hardware input system, and other softwaresystems in a wireless or wired manner. The control system 20 can includeone or more servers, and can be a centralized control architecture or adistributed computing architecture. The server has a processor 201 and amemory 202, and an order pool 203 can be provided in the memory 202.

To improve the sorting efficiency and reduce manual operations, a directmeasurement method is currently used to obtain the goods volume, and aturnover box is allocated to an order according to the volume of theturnover box and the volume of the item. Although this method reduces,to some extent, the number of times of manually splitting for turnoverboxes or the probability that a turnover box is not full, there arestill problems that much empty space is left in a turnover box ormanually splitting is required for turnover boxes due to theirregularity or casing manner of goods.

Thus, it is of great importance whether an accurate goods volume isacquired. As there are generally many types of items in turnover boxes,so that indirect estimation based on the turnover boxes is relativelydifficult. While if types of items in a goods location in the shelf issimple, the volumes of items can be calculated with reference to thequantity of the goods in the goods location.

In FIG. 1, a plurality of shelves 31 are arranged in an array.Generally, a plurality of sorting stations 40 are provided at a side ofthe shelf zone 30. Using a clapboard shelf shown in FIG. 7 as anexample, the shelf can include a plurality of goods locations and fourfloor-standing support columns. Various items can be directly placed onthe locations, and one or more Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) items can beplaced on each corresponding location in the shelf.

It should be noted that the SKU is a unit for measuring stock-in andstock-out, and can be based on pieces, boxes, and pallets. The SKU isnecessary for logistics management of a distribution center (DC) of alarge supermarket chain. The SKU involved in the embodiments of thepresent application can be extended as a short name for a unified numberof an item, and each item corresponds to a unique SKU number. The SKU inthis embodiment can be understood as a unified number or uniqueidentification number of an item, and various items can be identified bythe corresponding SKU codes.

In addition, taking the goods sorting system shown in FIG. 1 as anexample, after a sorting person 41 or a sorting robot sorts an item fromthe shelf 31 at the sorting station 40 and puts the item into a turnoverbox 50, the sorted item placed into the turnover box need to be packed.To pack the sorted items placed in the turnover box, it first needs toknow the volume of the sorted item before recommending a correspondingbox type for the sorted item based on the volume information of thesorted item. Of course, the above goods sorting process is onlyillustrated for example. In addition to the above process, it is alsoneeds to know the volume of items in during location recommendation in astacking process. However, related collection methods (such as offer byupstream suppliers or goods owners, manual measurement by persons,measurement by equipment, etc.) have some deficiencies in determiningthe volumes of items, resulting in inefficient maintenance of thevolumes of many items in a warehouse. Thus, there is a need for animproved method for determining a goods volume, to maintain a relativelyaccurate volume for an item of each SKU in the warehouse, and to reduceequipment costs and labor costs.

The present application is further described in detail below inconjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It can beunderstood that the embodiments described herein are only used forexplaining the present application, rather than limiting the presentapplication. In addition, it should also be noted that, for convenienceof description, only parts related to the present application, insteadof all the present application, are shown in the drawings.

Embodiment I

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an order processing method according toEmbodiment I of the present application. This embodiment is applicableto a scenario of reasonably allocating a turnover box for an order toimprove the sorting efficiency. The method can be executed by an orderprocessing device according to an embodiment of the present application,and the device can be embodied in at least one of software and hardware.Referring to FIG. 2, the method includes steps S210, S220 and S230.

S210: determining an actual volume of at least one type of itemassociated with an order.

The actual volume of each type of item is determined based on ahistorical maximum storage quantity of the item in a location and thevolume of the accommodation in the location, or determined based on astorage quantity of the items in a turnover box and the volume of theturnover box.

The items associated with the order can be the same type of item, ormultiple types of items; the same type of items refers to items with thesame item number, attribute, etc. For example, a large size and a smallsize of items can be regarded as two types of items, such as cups. Thedifference between the actual volume of the item and a true volume ofthe item is approximate to zero, so the actual volume of the item mayalso be called a true volume of the item. The volume of accommodation ina location refers to a maximum capacity for containing items in alocation on a shelf. It should be noted that each shelf for storing itemhas the same number of locations, and the volume of accommodation ineach location on shelves of the same specification is same. Thehistorical maximum storage quantity of items in a location refers to astorage quantity corresponding to a location storing a largest quantityof a type of items among locations on all shelves those previouslystored and now store the items, and can be obtained by traversing thelocations of the shelves storing the item in a warehouse.

In an embodiment, an actual volume of item can be determined byestimation based on a location. For example, the volume of accommodationin a location can be divided by a historical maximum storage quantity ofitem in the location to determine an actual volume of the item.

The turnover box refers to a container for containing item to be sorted;and the volume of a turnover box refers to a volume of a turnover boxactually capable of containing item, and is fixed and highly accurate.Its effective available volume limits the number of items and the numberof orders. That is, all items in one or more orders can be placed in aturnover box. For subsequent packaging work, in an embodiment, anintelligent sorting system binds an order to a turnover box. The storagequantity of items in a turnover box refers to a maximum storage quantityof the items stored in the turnover box, that is, the quantity of theitems contained therein when the turnover box is full of the items.

To reduce operations and further improve the accuracy of an actualvolume of item, when only the same type of item are stored in a turnoverbox, the actual volume of the item may also be calculated based on theturnover box. In an embodiment, the volume of a turnover box can bedivided by a storage quantity of items in the turnover box to determinean actual volume of the item.

In an embodiment, an actual volume of item determined based on alocation and an actual volume of the item determined based on a turnoverbox are same, but they may also be different.

It should be noted that each item is allocated a basic table when beingput in storage, to store a shelf location, a basic volume value and thelike of the item. The basic volume value of item can be obtained throughcommunication via an interface between a supplier and an intelligentsorting system. Or based on an item type, an intelligent sorting systemcan read an average volume value of the item type from an itemstatistics table, and place a read result into a basic table of thecorresponding item.

The basic volume in the basic table of item can be dynamically adjustedaccording to the actual situation. In an embodiment, after an actualvolume of item is determined based on a location or a turnover box, abasic table of the item can be updated with this volume, and acredibility value of the volume determined currently is marked in thebasic table to indicate the accuracy of the actual volume of the item.

Due to high accuracy of the volume of a turnover box, thus a credibilityvalue of an actual volume of item determined based on a turnover box isgreater than a credibility value of an actual volume of the itemdetermined based on a location, and the credibility value of the actualvolume of the item determined based on a location is greater than acredibility value of a basic volume value of the item. In an embodiment,a credibility value of an actual volume of item determined based on aturnover box can be set to 1; a credibility value of an actual volume ofthe item determined based on a location can be set to 0.8; and acredibility value of a basic volume value of the item can be set to 0.3.

In an embodiment, after an order is acquired, an actual volume of itemcan be acquired from a basic table of the item associated with the orderaccording to order information. For example, there are the severalsituations as follows. In a first situation, if all items in a currentorder are completely included in all items in historical orders, itindicates that an actual volume of the item are stored in a basic tableof the item currently associated with the order, and can be directlyobtained from the corresponding basic table. In a second situation, ifitem currently associated with an order are not included in all items inhistorical orders, it indicates that there are new item in the currentorder whose actual volume is not determined and that there are differenttypes of item. In this case, an actual volume of the item can bedetermined by using a historical maximum storage quantity of the item ina location and the volume of accommodation in the location. In a thirdsituation, if item currently associated with an order are not includedin any of all items in historical orders, and the current items are ofthe same type, an actual volume of the item can be determined by using ahistorical maximum storage quantity of the item in a location and thevolume of accommodation in the location, or a storage quantity of theitem in a turnover box and the volume of the turnover box.

Step S220: determining a total volume of at least one type of itemassociated with the order according to the actual volume of at least onetype of item associated with the order.

The total volume is obtained by combining the actual volumes of allitems in the order.

Step S230: allocating a turnover box to the order according to the totalvolume of at least one type of item associated with the order and thevolume of the turnover box.

The volume of a turnover box refers to a volume of a turnover boxactually capable of containing items, that is, an effective availablevolume.

In an embodiment, an order is determined according to order information,the quantity of items in the order, an actual volume of the item in theorder, order creation time and priority, and the like. The order can bea single one or a combination of multiple orders. The total volume ofall items associated with the order is compared with the volume of theturnover box; if the total volume of all items associated with the orderis an integer multiple of the volume of the turnover box, the turnoverbox is allocated to the order; and if not, order processing is repeatedto allocate a turnover box for the order.

It should be noted that in practice, one order corresponds to oneturnover box, but when a total volume of items in a single order isgreater than the volume of a turnover box, to avoid the phenomenon thata turnover box is not full or items run out a turnover box, one or moreorders can be combined with the order so that a total volume thereof isequal to an integer multiple of the volume of the turnover box, and thenthe turnover box is allocated to the order.

In the order processing method according to the embodiment of thepresent application, an actual volume of item is determined based on ahistorical maximum storage quantity of the item in a location and thevolume of accommodation in the location, or determined based on astorage quantity of the item in a turnover box and the volume of theturnover box; a total volume is obtained by combining the actual volumesof items associated with an order; a turnover box is reasonablyallocated to the order according to the total volume and the volume ofthe turnover box, thereby avoiding the phenomenon that a turnover box isnot full or items run out a turnover box due to item volume inaccuracy,and reducing transport times of the turnover box and manual splittingoperations, thus improving the sorting efficiency.

Embodiment II

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an order processing method provided inEmbodiment II of this application. This embodiment explains when to usea turnover box to determine the actual volume of the item. Referring toFIG. 3, the method comprises: steps S310 to S350.

Step S310: determining an actual volume of at least one type of itemassociated with an order.

The actual volume of each type of item are determined based on ahistorical maximum storage quantity of the item in a location and thevolume of accommodation in the location, or determined based on astorage quantity of the item in a turnover box and the volume of theturnover box.

Step S320: determining a total volume of item associated with the orderaccording to the actual volume of at least one type of item associatedwith the order.

Step S330: allocating a turnover box to the order according to the totalvolume of at least one type of item associated with the order and thevolume of the turnover box.

Step S340: in the case where an actual volume of a type of item aredetermined based on a historical maximum storage quantity of the item ina location and the volume of accommodation in the location, and an ordersplitting instruction is received after the turnover box is allocated,determining an actual volume of the type of item according to a storagequantity of the type of item in the turnover box and the volume of theturnover box.

The order splitting instruction is used for instructing a item sortingsystem to calculate the quantity of item in the current turnover box anddetermine the actual volume of the item according to the volume of theturnover box and the quantity of the item.

After an order is acquired, if a credibility value of an actual volumeof item acquired from a basic table of the item associated with theorder according to order information is 0.8, it can be determined thatthe actual volume of the current item are determined based on alocation. In this case, if a total volume of the item determinedaccording to the actual volume of the item are greater than or less thanthe volume of the turnover box, and the item associated with the orderare the same type of item, to reduce transfer times of the turnover boxand improve the sorting efficiency, an actual volume of the item can becalculated again based on the turnover box.

In an embodiment, a sorting workstation is equipped with a touch displayscreen, which has a manual order splitting button. When a turnover boxis full, a sorting person clicks the manual order splitting button onthe screen, the item sorting system can automatically read and calculatean actual volume of item in the turnover box, and update a calculationresult to a basic table of the item, and update a credibility valuemarked in the basic table of the item to 1.

It should be noted that if a credibility value of an actual volume ofitem acquired from a basic table of the item associated with an order is0.8, and a total volume of the item determined according to the actualvolume of the item are equal to the volume of a turnover box, and theitem associated with the order are the same type of item, then thecredibility value marked in the basic table of the item associated withthe order is updated to 1.

Step S350: according to the actual volume of the type of item determinedaccording to a storage quantity of the type of item in the turnover boxand the volume of the turnover box, updating the actual volume of thetype of item determined based on a historical maximum storage quantityof the item in a location and the volume of accommodation in thelocation.

In an embodiment, the actual volume of the type of item determined basedon a historical maximum storage quantity of the item in a location andthe volume of accommodation in the location is replaced with the actualvolume of the type of item determined according to a storage quantity ofthe type of item in the turnover box and the volume of the turnover box;and in an embodiment, for example, a credibility value of the actualvolume of the item can be updated.

In the order processing method provided in the embodiment of the presentapplication, after a turnover box is allocated to an order, if there isa phenomenon that an actual volume of item determined based on alocation and a total volume of item are greater or less than the volumeof the turnover box, and the item associated with the order are the sametype of item, an actual volume of the item can be calculated again basedon the turnover box to obtain a more accurate actual volume of the item,thereby reducing transfer times of the turnover box, and improving thesorting efficiency.

Embodiment III

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an order processing method provided inEmbodiment III of the present application. In this embodiment, thedetermination of an actual volume of new item is illustrated in detailby using an example that items associated with a current order are notcompletely included in historical orders, that is, an actual volume ofnew item in an order has not been determined. Referring to FIG. 4, themethod includes steps S410 to S460.

Step S410: traversing the type of items on locations of shelves in awarehouse, and determining a location storing a largest quantity of thetype of items and a current maximum storage quantity of the type of itemin the location.

In an embodiment, to improve the operating speed of a server, thetraversal can be performed every day or periodically when orderprocessing is not performed, by setting a system parameter, such astime. A location storing a largest quantity of the type of item amonglocations of shelves and a current maximum storage quantity of the typeof item in the location can be obtained by successively traversing eachtype of item associated with an order in the warehouse. The locationstoring the largest quantity of item, the item number and the quantityof stored item are saved locally according to time.

Step S420: if the current maximum storage quantity of the type of itemin the storage location is greater than a historical maximum storagequantity of the type of item, updating and saving the historical maximumstorage quantity of the type of item based on the current maximumstorage quantity of the type of item.

The historical maximum storage quantity of item refers to a storagequantity corresponding to a location storing a largest quantity of atype of item among locations on all shelves that previously stored andnow store the type of item. When the current maximum storage quantity ofthe item are greater than the historical maximum storage quantity of theitem, a value corresponding to the historical maximum storage quantityof the item are replaced with a value corresponding to the currentmaximum storage quantity of the item and stored locally.

In an embodiment, when the current maximum storage quantity of the itemis less than the historical maximum storage quantity of the item, nooperation is performed.

Step S430: determining an effective volume of accommodation in thelocation storing the largest quantity of the type of item.

As locations on each shelf are same, and the volumes of accommodation inthe locations are fixed. When the location storing the largest quantityof item are full of the items, the volume of accommodation in thelocation can be directly determined as the effective volume ofaccommodation in the location storing the largest quantity of the typeof item if the accuracy requirement is not high.

However, due to the limitation of the location, the space of thelocation cannot be used to 100%. Therefore, the effective volume ofaccommodation in the location storing the largest quantity of item canbe determined according to a space utilization rate in the location.

In an embodiment, determining an effective volume of accommodation inthe location storing the largest quantity of the item can includes:calculating an effective volume of accommodation in the location storingthe largest quantity of item according to the volume of accommodation inthe location storing the largest quantity of the item and a presetthreshold of an effective space utilization rate in the location.

The effective volume of accommodation in the location refers to a volumeof accommodation in the location capable of containing items. Thethreshold of the effective space utilization rate in the location ispreset according to the actual situation, includes: a maximum upperlimit value and lower limit value of the accommodation in the locationcapable of containing item. The threshold may be obtained by directmeasurement, and may also be set by the system based on previousexperience. In an embodiment, the maximum upper limit value of theeffective space utilization rate in the location may be 98%, and theminimum lower limit value thereof may be 0.

Step S440: determining an estimated volume of the type of item accordingto the historical maximum storage quantity of the type of item and theeffective volume of accommodation in the location storing the largestquantity of the type of item, and using the estimated volume of the typeof item as the actual volume of the type of item.

In an embodiment, the volume of accommodation in the location storingthe largest quantity of the item is divided by the historical maximumstorage quantity of the item to obtain the volume value of the item. Inan embodiment, the volume value of the item is determined as the actualvolume of the item, and a basic volume value and a credibility value ina basic table of the item are updated and stored.

To reduce the operation, for example, determining the volume value ofthe item as the actual volume of the item may also be performed by thefollowing steps: determining a basic volume value of the item; andcomparing the volume value of the item with the basic volume value ofthe item, and if they are inconsistent, the volume value of the item isused as the actual volume of the item.

The basic volume value of the item is an initial volume of the item, ispre-stored in the basic table of the item, and can be obtained in any ofthe following two manners: in a first manner, receiving volume fieldinformation of the item, and initializing the basic volume value of theitem according to the volume field information; or in a second manner,based on an item type, acquiring an average volume value of the itemtype from an item statistics table, and initializing the basic volumevalue of the item according to the average volume value of the itemtype.

The volume field information refers to information that can beidentified by an intelligent sorting system provided by a supplier in acertain field format. The information can include volumes of variousitems. After the intelligent sorting system receives the volume fieldinformation through communication with the supplier via a fixedinterface, basic volumes of various items are obtained by processingsuch as decoding, decryption or decompression. If the volume of a typeof item in the volume field information is null or the received volumefield information is null, the intelligent sorting system can, based onthe item type, read an average volume value of the item type from theitem statistics table, and put a reading result into the correspondingbasic table of various item to initialize the basic volume values of thevarious item. The item type refers to a model number, item number andattribute, etc. The item statistics table refers to a table provided bya supplier to record relevant information of item.

In an embodiment, the volume value of the traversed item is comparedwith the basic volume value in the basic table of the item. In responseto determining that they are consistent, the basic volume value of theitem is determined as the actual volume of the item, and it only needsto update the credibility value currently marked in the basic table to0.8; and in response to determining that they are inconsistent, thevolume value of the item are used in place of the basic volume value ofthe item as the actual volume of the item, and the credibility valuecurrently marked in the basic table is updated to 0.8.

Step S450: determining a total volume of item associated with the orderaccording to the actual volume of at least one type of item associatedwith the order.

Step S460: allocating a turnover box to the order according to the totalvolume of at least one type of item associated with the order and thevolume of the turnover box.

In the order processing method provided in the embodiment of the presentapplication, the items on locations of shelves in a warehouse aretraversed to obtain a location storing a largest quantity of the itemand a current maximum storage quantity of the item in the location; thecurrent maximum storage quantity of the stored item are compared with ahistorical maximum storage quantity of the item to update the historicalmaximum storage quantity of the item; and an actual volume of the itemcan be obtained according to the historical maximum storage quantity ofthe item, the volume of accommodation in the location and a basic volumevalue. This avoids inaccuracy of final calculation of an actual volumeof item due to problems such as the irregularity or placing manner ofthe item in a method of obtaining an actual volume of item by directmeasurement in the prior art. Furthermore, a total volume is obtained bycombining the actual volumes of item associated with an order; aturnover box is reasonably allocated to the order according to the totalvolume and the volume of the turnover box, thereby avoiding thephenomenon that a turnover box is not full or item exceed a turnover boxdue to item volume inaccuracy, and reducing transfer times of theturnover box and manual order splitting operations, thus improving thesorting efficiency.

In an embodiment, after the turnover box is allocated to the order, ifthe actual volume of the item and the total volume of the itemdetermined based on the location are greater or less than the volume ofthe turnover box, other turnover box may be adopted. An actual volume ofnew item are calculated according to the volume of the other turnoverbox and a determined total volume of other item in the other turnoverbox.

It should be noted that if items associated with the current order arenot included in any historical orders, and such items are of the sametype, after a turnover box is allocated to the order by using the stepsS410 to S460, if the actual volume of the item and the total volume ofthe items determined based on the location are greater or less than thevolume of the turnover box, the turnover box can be used to re-determinethe actual volume of the item, and the actual volume of the itemdetermined based on the location can be replaced with the actual volumeof the item determined based on the turnover box.

Embodiment IV

FIG. 5 is a structural block diagram of an order processing deviceprovided in Embodiment IV of the present application. The device canexecute an order processing method provided in any embodiment of thepresent application, and has corresponding functional modules andbeneficial effects for executing the method. As shown in FIG. 5, thedevice can include: an actual volume determination module 510, a totalvolume determination module 520 and an allocation module 530.

The actual volume determination module 510 is configured to determine anactual volume of at least one type of item associated with an order,where the actual volume of each type of item is determined based on ahistorical maximum storage quantity of the item in a location and thevolume of accommodation in the location, or determined based on astorage quantity of the items in a turnover box and the volume of theturnover box.

The total volume determination module 520 is configured to determine atotal volume of item associated with the order according to the actualvolume of at least one type of item associated with the order.

The allocation module 530 is configured to allocate a turnover box tothe order according to the total volume of at least one type of itemassociated with the order and the volume of the turnover box.

In the order processing device provided in the embodiment of the presentapplication, an actual volume of item is determined based on ahistorical maximum storage quantity of various items in a location andthe volume of accommodation in the location, or determined based on astorage quantity of the items in a turnover box and the volume of theturnover box; a total volume is obtained by combining the actual volumesof item associated with an order; a turnover box is reasonably allocatedto the order according to the total volume and the volume of theturnover box, thereby avoiding the phenomenon that a turnover box is notfull or item exceed a turnover box due to item volume inaccuracy in theprior art, and reducing transport times of the turnover box and manualseparations for items in turnover boxes, thus improving the sortingefficiency.

In an embodiment, the actual volume determination module 510 can beconfigured to: if an actual volume of a type of item is determined basedon a historical maximum storage quantity of the item in a location andthe volume of accommodation in the location, and an instruction forseparating items in the turnover box is received after the turnover boxis allocated, determine an actual volume of the type of item accordingto a storage quantity of the type of item in the turnover box and thevolume of the turnover box.

In an embodiment, the above device can further include: an actual volumeupdate module.

The actual volume update module is configured to update the actualvolume of the type of item determined based on a historical maximumstorage quantity of the item in a location and the volume ofaccommodation in the location, according to the actual volume of thetype of item determined according to a storage quantity of the type ofitem in the turnover box and the volume of the turnover box.

In an embodiment, the actual volume determination module 510 can furtherinclude a location quantity determination unit, a storage quantityupdate unit, a location volume determination unit, and an actual volumedetermination unit.

The location quantity determination unit is configured to traverse itemson the type of locations of shelves in a warehouse, and determine alocation storing a largest quantity of the type of item and a currentmaximum storage quantity of the type of item in the location.

The storage quantity update unit is configured to, if the currentmaximum storage quantity of the type of item is greater than a storedhistorical maximum storage quantity of the item, update and save thehistorical maximum storage quantity of the type of item according to thecurrent maximum storage quantity of the type of item.

The location volume determination unit is configured to determine aneffective space volume of accommodation in the location storing thelargest quantity of the type of item.

The actual volume determination unit is configured to determine a volumevalue of the item according to the historical maximum storage quantityof the type of item and the effective space volume of accommodation inthe location storing the largest quantity of the type of item, and usethe estimated volume of the type of item as the actual volume of thetype of item.

In an embodiment, the above device can further include a basic volumedetermination module and an actual volume determination module.

The basic volume determination module is configured to determine a basicvolume value of the type of item.

The actual volume determination module is further configured to comparethe volume value of the item with the basic volume value of the type ofitem, and in the case of inconsistency, update the basic volume value ofthe type of item according to the estimated volume of the type of item.

In an embodiment, the location volume determination unit is configuredto: determine an effective volume of accommodation in the locationstoring the largest quantity of the type of item according to the volumeof accommodation in the location storing the largest quantity of thetype of item and a preset threshold of an effective space utilizationrate of the location.

In an embodiment, the basic volume determination module is configuredto: receive volume field information of the type of item, and initializea basic volume value of the type of item according to the volume fieldinformation; or based on the type, acquire an average volume value ofthis type from an item statistics table, and initialize a basic volumevalue of the type of item according to the average volume value of thetype.

Embodiment V

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a server provided inEmbodiment V of the present application. FIG. 6 shows a block diagram ofan exemplary server 612 adapted to implement embodiments of the presentapplication. The server 612 shown in FIG. 6 is only an example, and hasno limitation on the functions and scope of use of the embodiments ofthe present application.

As shown in FIG. 6, the server 612 is embodied in the form of ageneral-purpose computing device. Components of the server 612 caninclude, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processingunits 616, a system memory 628, and a bus 618 connecting differentsystem components (including the system memory 628 and the processingunit 616).

The bus 618 represents one or more of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, a processor, or a local bus using any ofmultiple types of bus structures. For example, these architecturesinclude, but are not limited to, an industry standard architecture (ISA)bus, a micro channel architecture (MAC) bus, an enhanced ISA bus, avideo electronics standards association (VESA) local bus and aperipheral component interconnect (PCI) bus.

The server 612 typically includes multiple types of computer systemreadable media. These media can be any available media that can beaccessed by the server 612, including volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media.

The system memory 628 can include a computer system readable medium inthe form of a volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM) 630and/or a cache memory 632. The server 612 can further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer system storagemedia. Only as an example, a storage system 634 can be used to read fromand write to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic medium (not shown inFIG. 6, generally referred to as a “hard drive”). Although not shown inFIG. 6, a magnetic disc drive for reading from and writing to aremovable non-volatile magnetic disc (such as a “floppy disc”) and anoptical disc drive for reading from and writing to a removablenon-volatile optical disc (such as a compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), a DVD-ROM or other optical medium) can be provided. In thesecases, each drive can be connected to the bus 618 through one or moredata medium interfaces. The system memory 628 can comprise at least oneprogram product having a set of (for example, at least one) programmodules, which are configured to perform functions of the embodiments ofthe present application.

A program/utility tool 640 having a set of (at least one) programmodules 642 can be stored in, for example, the system memory 628. Suchprogram modules 642 include, but are not limited to, an operatingsystem, one or more application programs, other program module(s) andprogram data. Each or some combination of the examples may include animplementation of a network environment. The program modules 642generally perform functions and/or methods in the embodiments describedin this application.

The server 612 may also communicate with one or more peripheral devices614 (such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 624, etc.), andmay also communicate with one or more devices that enable a user tointeract with the server, and/or communicate with any device (such as anetwork card, a modem, etc.) that enables the server 612 to communicatewith one or more other computing devices. Such communication can beperformed through an input/output (I/O) interface 622. In addition, theserver 612 may also communicate with one or more networks (such as alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and/or a publicnetwork such as the Internet) through a network adapter 620. As shown,the network adapter 620 communicates with other modules of the server612 through the bus 618. It should be understood that although not shownin the figure, other hardware and/or software modules can be used inconjunction with the server 612, including but not limited to amicrocode, a device driver, a redundant processing unit, an externaldisc drive array, and a redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID)system, a magnetic tape drive, and a data backup storage system.

The processing unit 616 runs a program stored in the system memory 628to execute various functional applications and data processing, forexample, implementing an order processing method provided in theembodiment of the present application.

Embodiment VI

Embodiment VI of the present application further provides acomputer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, whenexecuted by a processor, can implement any of the order processingmethods in the foregoing embodiments.

The computer storage medium in the present application can be anycombination of one or more computer-readable media. Thecomputer-readable medium can be a computer-readable signal medium or acomputer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage mediumcan be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatusor device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (anon-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium include: anelectrical connection with one or more conducting wires, a portablecomputer disc, a hard disc, an random access memory (RAM), a read onlymemory (ROM), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) or flashmemory, an optical fiber, a portable compact disk-read only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination thereof. As used herein, a computer-readablestorage medium can be any tangible medium that contains or stores aprogram that can be used by or in combination with an instructionexecution system, device or device.

The computer-readable signal medium can include a data signal propagatedin a baseband or as part of a carrier wave, and the data signal carriescomputer-readable program codes. Such a propagated data signal can takemany forms, including but not limited to an electromagnetic signal, anoptical signal, or any suitable combination thereof. Thecomputer-readable signal medium may also be any computer-readable mediumother than a computer-readable storage medium, and the computer-readablemedium can send, propagate or transmit a program for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device.

The program codes included in the computer-readable medium can betransmitted by using any appropriate medium, including but not limitedto a wireless, wire, optical cable, or radio frequency (RF) medium, orany suitable combination thereof.

The computer program codes for performing the operations of the presentapplication can be written in one or more programming languages or acombination thereof, the programming languages including anobject-oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, or C ++,and also including a conventional procedural programming language, suchas “C” or similar programming language. The program codes can beexecuted entirely on a user's computer, partly on a user's computer, asan independent software package, partly on a user's computer and partlyon a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In thecase where a remote computer is involved, the remote computer can beconnected to a user's computer through any type of network, including anlocal area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), or it can beconnected to an external computer (such as being connected through theInternet from an Internet service provider).

In the above embodiment, the exemplary illustrative scheme fordetermining a basic volume value of the type of item includes: whendetecting that a new stacking operation of the type of item iscompleted, searching for a stacking location set involved in the newstacking operation; for each stacking location in the stacking locationset, determining an upper limit of current unit volume for the type ofitem in the stacking location according to a location volume of thestacking location and a storage quantity of the type of item in thestacking location; and updating a basic volume value of the type of itemaccording to the corresponding upper limit of current unit volume forthe type of item on each stacking location.

Embodiment VII

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow diagram of an item volume estimation methodprovided in Embodiment VII of the present application. The item volumeestimation method in the embodiment of the present application can beapplied to a scenario in which the volume of an item on a shelf ismaintained in real time. The method can be executed by a device forcalculating the volume of an item. The device can be embodied in atleast one of software and hardware. The device can be integrated in anycomputer device for calculating the volume of an item, having a networkcommunication function. As shown in FIG. 8, the item volume estimationmethod in the embodiment of the present application can comprise steps801, 802 and 803.

Step 801: searching for a stacking location set involved in the newstacking operation when detecting that a new stacking operation of acurrent SKU item is completed. The “stacking location set” in thisembodiment is also called “location set”.

In the embodiment of the present application, items in a warehouse canbe stored on locations of shelves. For example, the items of the sametype can be stored on the same location of the same shelf in adistributed manner, different locations of the same shelf in adistributed manner, or different locations of different shelves in adistributed manner. To better manage various commodities stored on thelocations of the shelves, corresponding SKU codes can be created for thevarious commodities stored on the locations of the shelves. Each type ofitem can correspond to a unique SKU code. The SKU code can be understoodas a unified number or a unique identification number of the item, andvarious items can be identified by corresponding SKU codes. A newstacking operation of a current SKU item can be understood as that inaddition to the current SKU items pre-stored on shelf locations, thereare new items with the same SKU as the current SKU items stored on shelflocations in the warehouse; or it can also be understood as that amongthe current SKU items pre-stored on shelf locations, some items arere-stored, from the shelf locations for pre-storage, to locations ofother shelves in the warehouse. For example, an item with SKU1 is storedin locations in a warehouse, when additional items with SKU1 are storedon one or more locations in the warehouse, it can be understood as a newstacking operation of the item with SKU1, and the newly added items havethe same SKU, i.e. having SKU1. Of course, not all of the locations arenewly added with the item with SKU1, and one or more can be selectedfrom the locations in the warehouse to store the item, that is,searching for a stacking location involved in the new stackingoperation.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the new stackingoperation is completed, the newly stacked item with the same SKU may bestored on the same location of the same shelf in a concentrated manner,or may be stored on different locations of the same shelf in adistributed manner, or may also be stored on different locations ofdifferent shelves in a distributed manner. In addition, when the newlyadded items are stored on different locations, only some locations ofsome shelves may be involved. Based on the above situation, when it isdetected that a new stacking operation of a current SKU item iscompleted, a stacking location set involved in the stacking operationcan be searched for. The stacking location set can include one or morestacking locations. The stacking location set involved in the stackingoperation can be understood as, when a new stacking operation of acurrent SKU item is completed, a stacking location set used when thenewly added item with the current SKU is stacked and stored.

In an embodiment, using a warehouse with a first shelf, a second shelfand a third shelf as an example. The first shelf can include a locationG11, a location G12, and a location G13; the second shelf can include alocation G21, a location G22, and a location G23; and the third shelfcan include a location G31, a location G32, and a location G33. An itemA with the current SKU1 is stored on locations G11, G22 and G33. When itis detected that a new stacking operation of the item A is completed, itmay indicate that in addition to the items A pre-stored on the locationsG11, G22 and G33, there are new item A stored on one or more locationsof the shelf 1, shelf 2 or shelf 3; and/or it may also indicate thatamong the items A on the locations G11, G22 and G33, one or more of theitems A are re-stored, from the locations G11, G22 and G33, to locationsof other shelves in the warehouse; and/or it may also indicate thatamong the items A on the good locations G11, G22 and G33, one or more ofthe items A are exchanged between the locations G11, G22 and G33. In theabove cases, the locations in the warehouse used when the new item A arestored, and the locations used to which the items A are exchanged fromthe pre-storing locations G11, G22 or G33 for re-storage, both can beunderstood as a stacking location set involved in the stacking operationof the item A.

In the embodiment of the present application, after an item is stored onlocations of shelves, the item and location information mapping tablecan be generated between item information (including but not limited toan SKU code of the item) and location information of the location usedwhen the item is stored. By using the item and location informationmapping table, on any location of any shelf, item informationcorresponding to location information of the shelf can be searched for.Based on any item information, location information of the locationsused when the item is stored may also be searched for. SKU item thatundergoes a new stacking operation completion event, and locationinformation of location used for the SKU item when a new stackingoperation is completed can be determined according to the item andlocation information mapping table. In an embodiment, when it isdetected that a new stacking operation of a current SKU item iscompleted, a stacking location set involved in the stacking operationcan be searched for in an item and location information mapping tablebased on the current SKU. The item and location information mappingtable can include a mapping relationship between the item informationcorresponding to each item and the location information of the locationused when each item is stored.

Step 802: for each stacking location in the stacking location set,determining a current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemin the stacking location according to a location volume of the stackinglocation and a storage quantity of the current SKU item in the stackinglocation.

In the embodiment of the present application, the current upper limit ofunit volume can be understood as an upper limit of a location spacevolume of the shelf that can be occupied when a single item with thecurrent SKU is used on the stacking location. When a correspondingcurrent upper limit of unit volume is determined, it can be understoodas that a corresponding current upper limit of unit volume is calculatedaccording to the inventory on the stacking location. In simple terms,the current upper limit of unit volume can be a ratio between a locationvolume of the stacking location and the quantity of items of the currentSKU item stored on the stacking location. In addition, not only thecurrent SKU item but also other SKU items can be stored on the stackinglocation. Therefore, an actual total volume of the current SKU itemstored on the stacking location (a sum of true volumes of the items ofthe current SKU item) is smaller than the location volume of thestacking location. The corresponding current upper limit of unit volumedetermined according to the location volume of the stacking location andthe quantity of the current SKU item on the stacking location isactually greater than a true volume of the current SKU item. Inaddition, as factors such as the shape of the current SKU item, thatwhether or not it can be squeezed, or the stacking manner can influencethe volume of space occupied when the current SKU item is stored on thestacking location, thus the volume of space occupied when the currentSKU item is stored on the stacking location is smaller than thethree-dimensional volume of the current SKU item when it is not storedon the stacking location. For example, the current SKU item is storedafter being squeezed on the stacking location. In this case, the volumeof space actually occupied by the current SKU item on the stackinglocation is smaller than the three-dimensional volume of the item in thespace.

In an embodiment, using a stacking location including a first shelf, asecond shelf and a third shelf as an example. Assuming that locationvolumes of stacking locations such as the locations G11, G22 and G33 areall set to V, and the quantity of the items A with the current SKU1stored on G11 is 10, the quantity of the items A stored on G22 is 30,and the quantity of items A stored on G33 is 100. In this case, acurrent upper limit of unit volume of the item A on the location G11 isV/10, a current upper limit of unit volume of the item A on the locationG22 location is V/30, and a current upper limit of unit volume of theitem A on the location G33 is V/100. It should be noted that V/10, V/30and V/100 are actually larger than the true volume of the current SKUitem. It can be understood that locations on shelves may have the samelocation volume, or may also have different location volume.

In the embodiment of the present application, only when the quantity ofthe current SKU item stored on the stacking location is as large aspossible, for example, only the current SKU items are stored on thestacking location, and the stacking location is full of the current SKUitems as much as possible, can the actual total volume of the currentSKU item stored on the stacking location gradually approximate thelocation volume of the stacking location. As such, the current upperlimit of unit volume determined according to the location volume of thestacking location and the quantity of the current SKU item stored on thestacking location gradually approximates the true volume of the currentSKU item. In addition, considering that in actual scenarios, thestacking location cannot be filled with the current SKU item to full,and there are no gaps in the stacking location, thus no matter how thecurrent upper limit of unit volume approximates the true volume of thecurrent SKU item, the current upper limit of unit volume is alwayslarger than the true volume of the current SKU item.

In the embodiment of the present application, when there is a newstacking operation of the current SKU item, the newly stacked currentSKU item may be stored on different locations in a distributed manner.Therefore, in determination of a current upper limit of unit volume ofthe current SKU item on the stacking location, it needs to determine,for each stacking location in the stacking location set, a current upperlimit of unit volume of the current SKU item on the stacking locationaccording to the location volume of the stacking location and thequantity of the current SKU item on the stacking location. In addition,to calculate the current upper limit of unit volume, a total quantity ofthe current SKU item stored on the stacking location, and the locationvolume of the stacking location can be acquired first.

In an optional implementation of the embodiment of the presentapplication, determining a current upper limit of unit volume of thecurrent SKU item in the location according to a location volume ofaccommodation in the location and a storage quantity of the current SKUitem in the location can include steps 802 a and 802 b.

Step 802 a: determining a filling rate of the stacking location when thecurrent SKU item uses the location.

Step 802 b: determining a current upper limit of unit volume of thecurrent SKU item on the location according to a location volume ofaccommodation in the location, a storage quantity of the current SKUitem in the location, and the filling rate of the location, where thecurrent upper limit of unit volume is greater than a true volume of thecurrent SKU item.

The “filling rate” in the embodiment of the present application is alsocalled “effective space utilization rate”.

In this implementation, in general, for reasons such as preventing theitem from falling from the stacking location, great difficulty infilling the innermost layer of the stacking location with the item, andthe presence of gaps between items placed on the stacking location, itis impossible to fill the stacking location with the item to 100%. Assuch, the location volume of the stacking location cannot be fully used,which results in that the current upper limit of unit volume determinedonly based on the location volume of the stacking location and thequantity of the current SKU item on the stacking location cannot wellapproximate the true volume of the current SKU item. Thus, indetermination of the current upper limit of unit volume of the currentSKU item on the stacking location, the location volume of the stackinglocation needs to be discounted. Based on the above situation, thisembodiment introduces a filling rate of the stacking location used forthe current SKU item. In determination of the current upper limit ofunit volume of the current SKU item on the stacking location, not onlythe location volume of the stacking location and the quantity of thecurrent SKU item on the stacking location, but also the filling rate ofthe stacking location used for the current SKU item are considered, sothat the calculated current upper limit of unit volume of the currentSKU item on the stacking location is more approximate to the true volumeof the current SKU item. The filling rate of the stacking location isless than or equal to 1, and the filling rate of the stacking locationcan be determined according to an association relationship between theshape of the item placed on the stacking location and actual structuralfeatures of the stacking location. The higher matched degree of theshape of the item placed on the stacking location and actual structuralfeatures of the stacking location is high, the more items can be placedon the stacking location, and the filling rate of the stacking locationcan be set higher; otherwise, the filling rate of the stacking locationis set lower.

In this implementation, for example, using a location 33 included in astacking location set as an example. The location volume ofaccommodation in the location 33 is set to V, and the quantity of thecurrent SKU item stored on the location 33 is N, and the filling rate ofthe location 33 used for the current SKU item are R. In this case, thecurrent upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU item on thestacking location can be calculated according to the formula: thecurrent upper limit of unit volume=(the location volume of the stackinglocation V)·(the filling rate of the stacking location R)/(the quantityof the current SKU item stored on the stacking location N), where thecurrent upper limit of unit volume is greater than the true volume ofthe current SKU item, and the filling rate R of the stacking location isless than or equal to 1.

Step 803: updating a historical volume of the current SKU item accordingto the corresponding current upper limit of unit volume of the currentSKU item on each stacking location.

The “historical volume of the current SKU item” is also the “basicvolume value of the type of item” in the foregoing embodiments.

In the embodiment of the present application, both the current upperlimit of unit volume of the current SKU item on each stacking locationand the historical volume of the current SKU item are greater than thetrue volume of the current SKU item. Thus, a core idea of the method fordetermining the volume of an item in this embodiment is determiningwhich of the current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemon each stacking location and the historical volume of the current SKUitem are more approximate to the true volume of the current SKU item. Inother words, if the current upper limit of unit volume of the currentSKU item on the stacking location is more approximate to the historicalvolume of the current SKU item, then the current upper limit of unitvolume of the current SKU item on the stacking location is used as thetrue volume of the current SKU item. The historical volume of thecurrent SKU item can be understood as already determined for the currentSKU item before a new stacking operation of the new SKU item iscompleted. The historical volume of the current SKU item is a calculatedvalue and can be constantly updated with the quantity of the current SKUitem stored on the stacking location.

The method for determining the volume of an item provided in theembodiment of the present application includes: when detecting that anew stacking operation of a current SKU item is completed, searching,based on the current SKU, for a stacking location set involved in thestacking operation; for each stacking location in the stacking locationset, determining a current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKUitem in the stacking location according to a location volume of thestacking location and the quantity of the current SKU item in thestacking location; and updating a historical volume of the current SKUitem according to the current upper limit of unit volume of the currentSKU item on each stacking location. The technical solution of theembodiment of the present application not only can achieve themaintenance of a relatively accurate item volume for each SKU item inthe warehouse; compared with an actually measured item volume, the itemvolume calculated in this solution of the embodiment can better reflectthe space occupied by the item, and this can also reduce equipment costsand labor costs.

Embodiment VIII

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow diagram of a schematic flow diagram of amethod for determining the volume of an item provided in Embodiment VIIIof the present application.

As shown in FIG. 9, the item volume estimation method in the embodimentof the present application can include steps 901 to 905.

Step 901: searching for a stacking location set involved in the newstacking operation, in response to detecting that a new stackingoperation of a current SKU item is completed.

In the item volume estimation method in the embodiment of the presentapplication, a current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKUitem on a stacking location is calculated based on the quantity of thecurrent SKU items stored on the stacking location, so as to calculate atrue volume of the current SKU item according to the current upper limitof unit volume. In response to determining that a new stacking operationof the current SKU item is completed, if the quantity of the current SKUitem stored on the stacking location is less than the quantity of thecurrent SKU item historically stored on the stacking location, a currentupper limit of unit volume of the current SKU item on the stackinglocation can be calculated to be greater than a historical upper limitof unit volume of the current SKU item on the stacking location. In thiscase, compared with the current upper limit of unit volume, thehistorical upper limit of unit volume is more approximate to the truevolume of the current SKU item, and the corresponding calculated currentupper limit of unit volume is invalid, so a step of determining thecurrent unit volume limit of the current SKU item on the stackinglocation is also invalid. Based on the above situation, each stackinglocation in the stacking location set may also meet a condition that thequantity of the current SKU item currently stored on the stackinglocation is greater than the quantity of the current SKU itemhistorically stored on the stacking location.

Step 902: for each stacking location in the stacking location set,determining a current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemon the stacking location according to a location volume of the stackinglocation and a storage quantity of the current SKU item on the stackinglocation.

In an implementation of the embodiment of the present application,determining a current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemon the stacking location according to a location volume of the stackinglocation and a storage quantity of the current SKU item on the stackinglocation can include:

-   -   determining a filling rate of the stacking location when the        current SKU item uses the stacking location; and    -   calculating a current upper limit of unit volume of the current        SKU item on the stacking location according to a location volume        of the stacking location a storage quantity of the current SKU        item on the stacking location and the filling rate of the        stacking location, where the current upper limit of unit volume        is greater than the true volume of the current SKU item.

Step 903: if an operation of updating a historical volume of the currentSKU item is not performed for the first time, using an updated volume ofthe current SKU item determined by the previous update as the historicalvolume of the current SKU item.

In the embodiment of the present application, that an operation ofupdating a historical volume of the current SKU item is not performedfor the first time can be understood as that the historical volume ofthe current SKU item has been updated before and the updated volume ofthe current SKU item obtained last time is used as the historical volumeof the current SKU item.

Step 904: if an operation of updating the historical volume of thecurrent SKU item is performed for the first time, using an initializedvolume of the current SKU item as the historical volume of the currentSKU item.

In the embodiment of the present application, the operation of updatingthe historical volume of the current SKU item can be understood as thatthe historical volume of the current SKU item has not been updatedbefore. As the operation of updating the historical volume of thecurrent SKU item is performed for the first time, the historical volumeof the current SKU item is not clear. Thus, an initialized volume of thecurrent SKU item can be acquired directly, and the acquired initializedvolume of the current SKU item as the historical volume of the currentSKU item. In general, the initialized volume of the current SKU item isused only when the historical volume of the current SKU item is updatedfor the first time. When the historical volume of the current SKU itemis not updated for the first time, the updated volume obtained byupdating the historical volume of the current SKU item last time can beused as the latest historical volume of the current SKU item.

In an implementation of the embodiment of the present application,acquiring an initialized volume of the current SKU item can includesteps 904 a, 904 b and 904 c.

Step 904 a: based on the current SKU, searching, from historicalinventory data, for a historical location set involved when the currentSKU item was historically stored.

Step 904 b: for each historical location in the historical location set,determining a historical upper limit of unit volume of the current SKUitem on the historical location according to a historical locationvolume of the historical location and a storage quantity of the currentSKU item on the historical location.

Step 904 c: selecting, from historical upper limits of unit volume ofthe current SKU item in each historical location, a historical upperlimit of unit volume that meets a third preset criterion as aninitialized volume of the current SKU item.

In this implementation, the historical location set involved when thecurrent SKU item was historically stored may be recorded in thehistorical inventory data. The historical location sets can be foundfrom the historical inventory data based on the current SKU. Then, foreach historical location in the historical location set, a historicalupper limit of unit volume of the current SKU item on the historicallocation can be determined according to a historical location volume ofthe historical location and the quantity of the current SKU item on thehistorical location. In an embodiment, determining a historical upperlimit of unit volume of the current SKU item on the historical locationaccording to a historical location volume of the historical location andthe quantity of the current SKU item on the historical location caninclude: determining a filling rate of the stacking location used forthe current SKU item; and determining a historical upper limit of unitvolume of the current SKU item on the historical location according to ahistorical location volume of the historical location, the quantity ofthe current SKU item on the historical location, and the filling rate ofthe historical location, where the historical upper limit of unit volumeis greater than the true volume of the current SKU item. It should benoted that the process of determining a historical upper limit of unitvolume in this implementation is similar to the process of determining acurrent upper limit of unit volume, except that one relates to a currentupper limit of unit volume in a current state, and the other relates toa historical upper limit of unit volume calculated after correspondingdata are acquired from historical inventory data. For specific relatedexplanation, reference can be made to the explanation of determining thecurrent unit volume.

In this implementation, although the historical upper limit of unitvolume with the current SKU on each historical location in thehistorical location set is obtained as described above, it cannot ensurethat all historical upper limit of unit volumes are valid, so it needsto select an optimal historical upper limit of unit volume from multiplehistorical upper limits of unit volume. To ensure that the initializedvolume of the current SKU item are more approximate to the true volumeof the current SKU item, the smallest historical upper limit of unitvolume can be selected from determined multiple historical upper limitsof unit volume as the initialized volume of the current SKU item. Thethird preset criterion may be a historical upper limit of unit volumewith the smallest volume upper limit value among the multiple historicalupper limits of unit volume.

Step 905: updating a historical volume of the current SKU item accordingto the current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU item oneach stacking location.

In an implementation of the embodiment of the present application,updating a historical volume of the current SKU item according to thecorresponding current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemon each stacking location can include a sub-process composed of thefollowing steps 9051 a and 9051 b (not shown in the figure).

Step 9051 a: selecting a current upper limit of unit volume that meets afirst preset criterion from current upper limits of unit volume of thecurrent SKU item on each location.

Step 9051 b: if the current upper limit of unit volume that meets thefirst preset criterion is smaller than a historical volume of thecurrent SKU item, using the current upper limit of unit volume thatmeets the first preset criterion as an updated volume of the current SKUitem.

In this implementation, after a current upper limit of unit volume ofthe current SKU item on each stacking location, multiple current upperlimits of unit volume obtained can be sorted in the order of from largeto small upper limit of unit volume values, and a current upper limit ofunit volume with the smallest upper limit of unit volume value isselected from the sorted multiple current upper limit of unit volumes asthe current upper limit of unit volume that meets the first presetcriterion. The first preset criterion can be understood as a currentupper limit of unit volume with the smallest volume upper limit valueamong multiple current upper limit of unit volumes.

In this implementation, after the current upper limit of unit volume ofthe current SKU item that meets the first preset criterion is selected,it needs to compare the current upper limit of unit volume of thecurrent SKU item that meets the first preset criterion with a historicalvolume of the current SKU item, determine which volume is mostapproximate to the true volume of the current SKU item, and use the mostapproximate one as an updated volume of the current SKU item, toimplement an update operation of the historical volume. If the currentupper limit of unit volume of the current SKU item that meets the firstpreset criterion is smaller than the historical volume of the currentSKU item, the current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemthat meets the first preset criterion is used as an updated volume ofthe current SKU item; and if the current upper limit of unit volume ofthe current SKU item that meets the first preset criterion is greaterthan or equal to the historical volume of the current SKU item, thehistorical volume of the current SKU item is not updated, and thehistorical volume of the current SKU item is still used as an updatedvolume of the current SKU item.

In another implementation of the embodiment of the present application,updating a historical volume of the current SKU item according to thecorresponding current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemon each stacking location can include a sub-process composed of thefollowing steps 9052 a, 9052 b and 9052 c (not shown in the figure).

Step 9052 a: for a current unit volume limit of the current SKU item ineach location, determining whether the current unit volume limit in thestacking location is smaller than a historical volume of the current SKUitem.

Step 9052 b: in response to determining that the current upper limit ofunit volume in the stacking location is smaller than the historicalvolume of the current SKU item, using the current upper limit of unitvolume of the current SKU item in the stacking location as a candidatevolume.

Step 9052 c: in response to determining that there is at least onecandidate volume, selecting from the at least one candidate volume acandidate volume that meets a second preset criterion as an updatedvolume of the current SKU item.

In this implementation, after multiple current upper limits of unitvolume are determined, it needs to determine which one of the multiplecurrent upper limits of unit volume are more approximate to the truevolume of the current SKU item than the historical volume of the currentSKU item. For example, for the current upper limit of unit volume of thecurrent SKU item on each stacking location, it is determined whether thecurrent upper limit of unit volume on the stacking location is smallerthan the historical volume of the current SKU item. If the current upperlimit of unit volume of the current SKU item on the stacking location issmaller than the historical volume of the current SKU item, it indicatesthat the current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU item onthe stacking location is more approximate to the true volume of thecurrent SKU item; and if the current upper limit of unit volume of thecurrent SKU item on the stacking location is greater than the historicalvolume of the current SKU item, it indicates that the historical volumeof the current SKU item is more approximate to the true volume of thecurrent SKU item.

In this implementation, although each current upper limit of unit volumein the candidate volume(s) is more approximate to the true volume of thecurrent SKU item than the historical volume of the current SKU item, inorder to select a current upper limit of unit volume most approximate tothe true volume of the current SKU item from the candidate volume(s),the smallest candidate volume can be selected from the at least onecandidate volume as an updated volume of the current SKU item. It shouldbe noted that the two specific optional implementations of updating thehistorical volume of the current SKU item in the above step 905 may beused separately or in combination.

It should be noted that the basic idea of the method for determining thevolume of an item in the embodiment of the present application iscalculating a current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemon a stacking location based on the quantity of the current SKU item onthe stacking location, and then updating a historical volume of thecurrent SKU item according to the current upper limit of unit volume.The reason why the aforementioned current unit volume limit is used isthat three-dimensional data of an item is not the only factor thatdetermines the volume occupied by the item. Other similar factors suchas the shape of the item, whether or not the item can be squeezed, andthe placing manner can influence the volume occupied by the item. Thesefactors can be fully considered in the current upper limit of unitvolume of the item, so that a true volume occupied by the item can beobtained more accurately based on the current upper limit of unitvolume. Moreover, the technical solution of this embodiment isimplemented fully automatically, which does not require expensivemeasuring equipment or man hours, so that equipment costs and laborcosts for determining the item volume are greatly reduced.

In the method for determining the volume of an item provided in theembodiment of the present application, actual stacking data can beautomatically acquired and a historical volume of the item can beupdated in real time based on the data, so that an updated volume of theitem are increasingly approximate to a true volume occupied by the item.Moreover, compared with an actually measured item volume, the itemvolume calculated according to the solution of the embodiment can betterreflect the space occupation of the item, and can also reduce equipmentcosts and labor costs.

Embodiment IX

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for determininggoods volume provided in Embodiment IX of the present application. Thedevice executes the method for determining the volume of an itemprovided in the foregoing embodiments. The device can be embodied in atleast one of software and hardware. The device can be integrated in anycomputer device for determining the volume of an item, having a networkcommunication function.

As shown in FIG. 10, the device for determining the goods volume in theembodiment of the present application can include a stacking locationsearch module 1001, a current volume upper limit determination module1002, and a volume update module 1003.

The stacking location search module 1001 is configured to, in responseto detecting that a new stacking operation of a current SKU item arecompleted, search for a stacking location set involved in the newstacking operation.

The current volume upper limit determination module 1002 is configuredto, for each stacking location in the stacking location set, determine acurrent upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU item in thelocation according to a location volume of the stacking location and astorage quantity of the current SKU item in the stacking location.

The volume update module 1003 is configured to update a historicalvolume of the current SKU item according to the current upper limit ofunit volume of the current SKU item in each stacking location.

The “historical volume of the item having the current SKU” is the “basicvolume value of the type of item” in the foregoing embodiments.

In an exemplary implementation of the embodiment of the presentapplication, the current volume upper limit determination module 1002can include a filling rate determination unit and a current volume upperlimit determination unit.

The filling rate determining unit is configured to determine a fillingrate of the stacking location when the current SKU item uses thestacking location.

The current volume upper limit determination unit is configured todetermine a current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU itemin the stacking location according to a location volume of the stackinglocation, a storage quantity of the current SKU item in the location,and the filling rate of the stacking location, where the current upperlimit of unit volume is greater than a true volume of the current SKUitem.

In an exemplary implementation of the embodiment of the presentapplication, the volume update module 1003 can include a firstacquisition unit, a second acquisition unit and a volume update unit.

The first acquisition unit is configured to, if an operation of updatingthe historical volume of the current SKU item is not performed for thefirst time, acquire an updated volume of the current SKU item determinedby the previous update as the historical volume of the current SKU item.

The second acquisition unit is configured to, if an operation ofupdating the historical volume of the current SKU item is performed forthe first time, acquire an initialized volume of the current SKU item asthe historical volume of the current SKU item.

The volume update unit is configured to update a historical volume ofthe item having the current SKU according to the current upper limit ofunit volume of the item having the current SKU on each stackinglocation.

In an exemplary implementation of the embodiment of the presentapplication, the volume update unit can include a first selectionsubunit and a first update subunit.

The first selection subunit is configured to select a current upperlimit of unit volume that meets a first preset criterion from currentupper limits of unit volume of the current SKU item in each stackinglocation.

The first update subunit is configured to, if the current upper limit ofunit volume that meets the first preset criterion is smaller than ahistorical volume of the current SKU item, use the current upper limitof unit volume that meets the first preset criterion as an updatedvolume of the current SKU item.

In another exemplary implementation of the embodiment of the presentapplication, the volume update unit can include a determination subunit,a candidate subunit and a second update subunit.

The determination subunit is configured to determine, for a current unitvolume limit of the current SKU item in each stacking location,determine whether the current unit volume limit of the current SKU itemin the stacking location is smaller than a historical volume of thecurrent SKU item.

The candidate subunit is configured to, if the current upper limit ofunit volume of the current SKU item in the stacking location is smallerthan the historical volume of the current SKU item, use the currentupper limit of unit volume of the current SKU item in the stackinglocation as a candidate volume.

The second update subunit configured to, if there is at least onecandidate volume, select from the at least one candidate volume acandidate volume that meets a second preset criterion as an updatedvolume of the current SKU item.

In an exemplary implementation of the embodiment of the presentapplication, the second acquisition unit can include a historicallocation search subunit, a historical volume upper limit determinationsubunit and an initialized volume determination unit.

The historical location search subunit is configured to, based on thecurrent SKU, search, from historical inventory data, for a historicallocation set involved when the current SKU item was historically stored.

The historical volume upper limit determination subunit is configuredto, for each historical location in the historical location set,determine a corresponding historical upper limit of unit volume of thecurrent SKU item on the historical location according to a historicallocation volume of the historical location and a storage quantity of thecurrent SKU item in the historical location.

The initialized volume determination unit is configured to select, fromhistorical upper limits of unit volume of the current SKU item in eachhistorical location, a historical upper limit of unit volume that meetsa third preset criterion as an initialized volume of the current SKUitem.

The device for determining goods volume provided in the embodiment ofthe present application can execute the method for determining goodsvolume provided in any embodiment of the present application, and hascorresponding functional modules and beneficial effects for executingthe method for determining goods volume.

Embodiment X

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a computer device providedin Embodiment X of the present invention. FIG. 11 shows a block diagramof an exemplary computer device 1112 adapted to implement embodiments ofthe present invention. The computer device 1112 shown in FIG. 11 is onlyan example, and has no limitation on the functions and scope of use ofthe embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 11, the computer device 1112 is embodied in the form ofa general-purpose computing device. The components of the computerdevice 1112 can include, but are not limited to, one or more processorsor processing units 1116, a system memory 1128, and a bus 1118connecting different system components (including the system memory 1128and the processing unit 1116).

The bus 1118 represents one or more of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, a processor, or a local bus using any ofmultiple types of bus structures. For example, these architecturescomprise, but are not limited to, an industry standard architecture(ISA) bus, a micro channel architecture (MAC) bus, an enhanced ISA bus,a video electronics standards association (VESA) local bus and aperipheral component interconnect (PCI) bus.

The computer device 1112 typically includes multiple types of computersystem readable media. These media can be any available media that canbe accessed by the computer device 1112, including volatile andnon-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

The system memory 1128 can include a computer system readable medium inthe form of a volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM) 1130and/or a cache memory 1132. The order supply and demand schedulingcomputer device 1112 can further comprise other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer system storage media. Only as an example,a storage system 1134 can be used to read from and write from anon-removable, non-volatile magnetic medium (not shown in FIG. 11,generally referred to as a “hard drive”). Although not shown in FIG. 11,a magnetic disc drive for reading from and writing to a removablenon-volatile magnetic disc (such as a “floppy disc”) and an optical discdrive for reading from and writing to a removable non-volatile opticaldisc (such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM or other optical medium) can beprovided. In these cases, each drive can be connected to the bus 1118through one or more data medium interfaces. The system memory 1128 cancomprise at least one program product having a set of (for example, atleast one) program modules, which are configured to perform functions ofthe embodiments of the present invention.

A program/utility tool 1140 having a set of (at least one) programmodules 1142 can be stored in, for example, the memory 1128. Suchprogram modules 1142 include, but are not limited to, an operatingsystem, one or more application programs, other program module(s) andprogram data. Each or some combination of the examples may include animplementation of a network environment. The program modules 1142generally perform functions and/or methods in the embodiments describedin the present invention.

The computer device 1112 may also communicate with one or moreperipheral devices 1114 (such as a keyboard, a pointing device, adisplay 1124, etc.), and may also communicate with one or more devicesthat enable a user to interact with the computer device 1112, and/orcommunicate with any device (such as a network card, a modem, etc.) thatenables the computer device 1112 to communicate with one or more othercomputing devices. Such communication can be performed through aninput/output (I/O) interface 1122. Moreover, the computer device 1112may also communicate with one or more networks (such as a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network suchas the Internet) through a network adapter 1120. As shown in FIG. 11,the network adapter 1120 communicates with other modules of the computerdevice 1112 through the bus 1118. It should be understood that althoughnot shown in the FIG. 11, other hardware and/or software modules can beused in conjunction with the computer device 1112, including but notlimited to a microcode, a device driver, a redundant processing unit, anexternal disc drive array, and a RAID system, a magnetic tape drive, anda data backup storage system.

By running a program stored in the system memory 1128, the processingunit 1116 executes various functional applications and data processing,for example, implementing a method for determining goods volume providedin an embodiment of the present invention, the method including:

-   -   in response to detecting that a new stacking operation of a        current SKU item is completed, searching for a stacking location        set involved in the new stacking operation;    -   for each stacking location in the stacking location set,        determining a current upper limit of unit volume of the current        SKU item in the stacking location according to a location volume        of the stacking location and a storage quantity of the current        SKU item in the stacking location; and    -   updating a historical volume of the current SKU item according        to the current upper limit of unit volume of the current SKU        item on each stacking location.

Embodiment XI

Embodiment XI of the present invention further provides acomputer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, whenexecuted by a processor, implements a method for determining goodsvolume as provided in an embodiment of the present invention, the methodincluding:

-   -   in response to detecting that a new stacking operation of a        current SKU item is completed, searching for a stacking location        set involved in the new stacking operation;    -   for each stacking location in the stacking location set,        determining a current upper limit of unit volume of the current        SKU item in the stacking location according to a location volume        of the stacking location and a storage quantity of the current        SKU item in the stacking location; and updating a historical        volume of the current SKU item according to the current upper        limit of unit volume of the current SKU item on each stacking        location.

The computer storage medium in the embodiment of the present inventioncan be any combination of one or more computer-readable media. Thecomputer-readable medium can be a computer-readable signal medium or acomputer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage mediumcan be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatusor device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (anon-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium include: anelectrical connection with one or more conducting wires, a portablecomputer disc, a hard disc, an random access memory (RAM), a read onlymemory (ROM), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM or flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk-read only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination thereof. As used herein, a computer-readablestorage medium can be any tangible medium that contains or stores aprogram that can be used by or in combination with an instructionexecution system, apparatus or device.

The computer-readable signal medium can include a data signal propagatedin a baseband or as part of a carrier wave, and the data signal carriescomputer-readable program codes. Such a propagated data signal can takemany forms, including but not limited to an electromagnetic signal, anoptical signal, or any suitable combination thereof. Thecomputer-readable signal medium may also be any computer-readable mediumother than a computer-readable storage medium, and the computer-readablemedium can send, propagate or transmit a program for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device.

The program codes included in the computer-readable medium can betransmitted by using any appropriate medium, including but not limitedto a wireless, wire, optical cable, or RF medium, or any suitablecombination thereof.

The computer program codes for performing the operations of the presentinvention can be written in one or more programming languages or acombination thereof, the programming languages including anobject-oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, or C ++,and also including a conventional procedural programming language, suchas “C” or similar programming language. The program codes can beexecuted entirely on a user's computer, partly on a user's computer, asan independent software package, partly on a user's computer and partlyon a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In thecase where a remote computer is involved, the remote computer can beconnected to a user's computer through any type of network, including anlocal area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), or it can beconnected to an external computer (such as being connected through theInternet from an Internet service provider).

It is to be noted that described above are only preferred embodiments ofthe present invention and technical principles applied thereto. Thoseskilled in the art can understand that the present invention is notlimited to the specific embodiments described herein, and those skilledin the art can make various obvious changes, readjustments andsubstitutions without departing from the scope of protection of thepresent invention. Therefore, although the present invention isdescribed in detail through the above embodiments, the present inventionis not merely limited to the above embodiments. More other equivalentembodiments may also be included without departing from the concept ofthe present invention, and the scope of the present invention isdetermined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An order processing method, comprising:determining an actual volume of at least one type of an item of aplurality of items associated with an order, wherein the actual volumeof the at least one type of the item of the plurality of items isdetermined based on a historical maximum storage quantity of the item ofthe plurality of items in a location and a volume of accommodation inthe location, or determined based on a storage quantity of the item ofthe plurality of items in a turnover box and a volume of the turnoverbox; determining a total volume of the plurality of items associatedwith the order according to the actual volume of the at least one typeof the item of the plurality of items associated with the order; andallocating the turnover box to the order according to the total volumeof the plurality of items and the volume of the turnover box.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of items associatedwith the order is of one type, and after allocating the turnover box tothe order according to the total volume of the plurality of items andthe volume of the turnover box, the method further comprises: when theactual volume of the at least one type of the item of the plurality ofitems is determined based on the historical maximum storage quantity ofthe item of the plurality of items in the location and the volume ofaccommodation in the location, and an instruction for separating theplurality of items in the turnover box is received after the turnoverbox is allocated, determining the actual volume of the at least one typeof the item of the plurality of items again according to the storagequantity of the at least one type of the item of the plurality of itemsin the turnover box and the volume of the turnover box.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein after updating the actual volume of the atleast one type of the item of the plurality of items, the method furthercomprises: updating the actual volume of the at least one type of theitem of the plurality of items, according to the actual volume of thetype of the item of the plurality of items determined again.
 4. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein determining the actual volume ofthe at least one type of the item of the plurality of items based on thehistorical maximum storage quantity of the at least one type of the itemof the plurality of items in the location and the volume ofaccommodation in the location comprises: traversing the at least onetype of the item of the plurality of items on a plurality of locationsof a plurality of shelves in a warehouse, and determining the locationstoring a largest quantity of the type of item of the plurality of itemsand a current maximum storage quantity of the at least one type of theitem of the plurality of items in the location; when the current maximumstorage quantity of the at least one type of the item of the pluralityof items is greater than a stored historical maximum storage quantity ofthe at least one type of the item of the plurality of items, updatingand saving the historical maximum storage quantity of the at least onetype of the item of the plurality of items according to the currentmaximum storage quantity of the at least one type of the item of theplurality of items; determining an effective volume of accommodation inthe location storing the largest quantity of the at least one type ofthe item of the plurality of items; and determining an estimated volumeof the at least one type of the item of the plurality of items accordingto the historical maximum storage quantity of the at least one type ofthe item and the effective volume of accommodation in the locationstoring the largest quantity of the at least one type of the item, andusing the estimated volume of the at least one type of the item as theactual volume of the at least one type of the item of the plurality ofitems.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein after using theestimated volume of the at least one type of the item of the pluralityof items as the actual volume of the at least one type of the item ofthe plurality of items, the method comprises: determining a basic volumevalue of the at least one type of the item of the plurality of items;and comparing the estimated volume of the at least one type of the itemof the plurality of items with the basic volume value of the at leastone type of the item of the plurality of items, and in response to thata comparison result indicates inconsistency, updating the basic volumevalue of the at least one type of the item of the plurality of itemsaccording to the estimated volume of the at least one type of the itemof the plurality of items.
 6. The method according to claim 4, whereindetermining the effective volume of accommodation in the locationstoring the largest quantity of the at least one type of the item of theplurality of items comprises: determining the effective volume ofaccommodation in the location storing the largest quantity of the atleast one type of the item of the plurality of items according to thevolume of accommodation in the location storing the largest quantity ofthe at least one type of the item of the plurality of items and a presetthreshold of an effective space utilization rate of the location.
 7. Themethod according to claim 5, wherein determining the basic volume valueof the at least one type of the item of the plurality of itemscomprises: receiving volume field information of the at least one typeof the item of the plurality of items, and initializing the basic volumevalue of the at least one type of the item of the plurality of itemsaccording to the volume field information; or based on an item type,acquiring an average volume value of the item type from an itemstatistics table, and initializing the basic volume value of the atleast one type of the item of the plurality of items according to theaverage volume value of the item type. 8-14. (canceled)
 15. A server,comprising: at least one processor; and a storage device configured tostore at least one program, wherein the at least one program, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, causes the at least oneprocessor to implement: determining an actual volume of at least onetype of an item of the plurality of items associated with an order,wherein the actual volume of the at least one type of the item of theplurality of items is determined based on a historical maximum storagequantity of the item of the plurality of items in a location and avolume of accommodation in the location, or determined based on astorage quantity of the item of the plurality of items in a turnover boxand a volume of the turnover box; determining a total volume of theplurality of items associated with the order according to the actualvolume of the at least one type of the item of the plurality of itemsassociated with the order; and allocating the turnover box to the orderaccording to the total volume of the plurality of items and the volumeof the turnover box.
 16. A storage medium storing a computer program,wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implementsthe order processing method according to claim
 1. 17. A method forestimating goods volume, comprising: searching for a location setinvolved in a new stacking operation, when detecting the new stackingoperation of a current Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) item is completed; foreach location in the location set, determining a current upper limit ofa unit volume of the current SKU item in a location according to alocation volume of accommodation in the location and a storage quantityof the current SKU item in the location; and updating a historicalvolume of the current SKU item according to the current upper limit ofthe unit volume of the current SKU item on the each location.
 18. Themethod according to claim 17, wherein determining the current upperlimit of the unit volume of the current SKU item in the locationaccording to the location volume of accommodation in the location andthe storage quantity of the current SKU item in the location comprises:determining an effective space utilization rate of the location when thecurrent SKU item uses the location; and determining the current upperlimit of the unit volume of the current SKU item in the locationaccording to the location volume of accommodation in the location, thestorage quantity of the current SKU item in the location, and theeffective space utilization rate of the location.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 17, wherein the historical volume of the current SKUitem comprises: when an operation of updating the historical volume ofthe current SKU item is not performed for a first time, an updatedvolume of the current SKU item determined by a previous update servingas the historical volume of the current SKU item; or when the operationof updating the historical volume of the current SKU item is performedfor the first time, an initialized volume of the current SKU itemserving as the historical volume of the current SKU item.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 19, wherein the updating of the historical volume ofthe current SKU item according to the current upper limit of the unitvolume of the current SKU item on the each location comprises: selectingthe current upper limit of the unit volume, wherein the current upperlimit of the unit volume meets a first preset criterion from a pluralityof current upper limits of the unit volume of the current SKU item onthe each location; and in response to that the current upper limit ofthe unit volume, wherein the current upper limit of the unit meets thefirst preset criterion is smaller than the historical volume of thecurrent SKU item, using the current upper limit of the unit volume thatmeets the first preset criterion as the updated volume of the currentSKU item.
 21. The method according to claim 19, the updating of thehistorical volume of the current SKU item according to the current upperlimit of the unit volume of the current SKU item on the each locationcomprises: for a current unit volume limit of the current SKU item inthe each location, determining whether the current unit volume limit ofthe current SKU item in the location is smaller than the historicalvolume of the current SKU item; in response to that the current upperlimit of the unit volume of the current SKU item in the location issmaller than the historical volume of the current SKU item, using thecurrent upper limit of the unit volume of the current SKU item in thelocation as a candidate volume; and determining there is at least onecandidate volume, selecting from the at least one candidate volume, acandidate volume that meets a second preset criterion as the updatedvolume of the current SKU item.
 22. The method according to claim 19,wherein acquiring the initialized volume of the current SKU itemcomprises: based on the current SKU item, searching, from historicalinventory data, for a historical location set, wherein the historicallocation set has historically stored the current SKU item; for eachhistorical location in the historical location set, determining ahistorical upper limit of the unit volume of the current SKU item in ahistorical location according to a historical location volume of thehistorical location and the storage quantity of the current SKU item inthe historical location; and selecting, from a plurality of historicalupper limits of the unit volume of the current SKU item in the eachhistorical location, the historical upper limit of the unit volume thatmeets a third preset criterion as the initialized volume of the currentSKU item. 23-28. (canceled)
 29. A computer device, comprising: at leastone processor; and a storage device configured to store at least oneprogram, wherein the at least one program, when executed by the at leastone processor, causes the at least one processor to implement the methodaccording to claim
 17. 30. A computer-readable storage medium storing acomputer program, wherein the program, when executed by a processor,implements the method according to claim 17.